Good Morning, Flowers! It is still snowing in my corner of the world. It's very light so I'm hoping it is winding down. Bob got up at 5 to blow out the driveways and then headed off to his meeting. He just called saying it is windy and blowing in the country but the plows are working the highways so he's going to keep going. The meeting lasts until 4 so I hope they cut out the breaks and shorten lunch time so he will get home before dark. So far we have a 2 hour late start so won't go to church until 10 assuming either the custodian or secretary are there to open up. They both live out in the country, off the main roads.
"Gma" -- It is -18 degrees wind chill right now . . . wanna trade temperatures? They just announced "no school" again today so maybe I won't be going into the office. I hope the commissary isn't busy and the shelves are well stocked for your visit today. I'm sending good vibes that Jack can find the kind of work shoes he needs -- $82 doesn't seem like much for "safety." Beth bought Maddy and Kolby little snow shovels at WM and they are having a ball with them. She said it's the best $3 she's ever spent! Maybe the doctors start to keep track of height 'later' in life. I don't think I've always been measured but know I have the last few years, ever since I quit HRT for sure, and started bone density testing.
I need to get dressed and get a move on. I got up at 5 because I knew Ernie would want breakfast, so I'm thinking it could be a long day. Hope you all have a terrific Tuesday!
Good morning, ladies! No snow but we have ice forming. It was starting to sleet as I drove into work. It's up to 32 degrees and supposed to change to rain so I hope they know what they are talking about. More snow in the forecast for tonight.
Faye, I used to be 5'6-1/2". It would be a good idea to ask the doctor to measure you now just to have a baseline on file. Then when you get older, you'll know if you are shrinking and need medication. My pulmonary doctor told me everyone who had ever smoked, even if they quit, should also ask for the simple spirometry test at the doctor's off when they go. That way you get help sooner if you start developing lung problems. COPD never improves permanently. Since I am now considered stable, I'm hoping to not lose anymore.
Jean, I don't envy you the snow at all. I hope Bob makes it home safely. The nuts around here can't drive in snow, let alone on ice.
Susan -- I hope you don't get 'iced' in at work. What is a spirometry test? I've never heard of that one. I started taking Fosomax (?) generic as soon as I quit the HRT. I've only lost about a half inch in the last 13 years. We have had several accidents around the area over the past week or so. People drive too fast and lose control sometimes flipping or rolling their vehicles. The dumb part is that many still don't wear seatbelts. Hope your day at work goes without any glitches.
It is 11 degrees here with a wind chill that makes it -3 with a 11 mph wind coming out of the WNW. I am staying inside. Went out in it to go to WW last evening and showed a loss of 1.6 pounds which I am pleased to say. Got all the necessary ingredients to make chicken noodle soup so that is what I am going to do for dinner and put some serving sizes of it in the freezer for later meals. About Will's knee ~ he has a piece of bone that has been broken off and is now causing some pain. Probably an old rodeo injury come back to haunt him. The doc is going to go in and see if it is still attached at one point and then if he can re-attach the rest of it he will. If it is broken off completely he will remove it. That's the plan. He got pretty broken up doing rodeo and is now paying for it. I ordered some undies and the came today and wow ~ I thought I had ordered pastel colors and these came BRIGHT but I will keep them for I wear pants that don't show through anyway. Just a surprise ~ they are really nice colors. Into the washer they go.
DONNA FAYE I do hope that the shelves are packed so you can make choices at the store. Also that Jack is able to find some suitable shoes. Shoes are so important especially for those who are on their feed so much as he is to give proper support. When the feet are properly shod then the back is taken care of. I get tired of the same ole fruit also and now have a mango and some kiwi, grapes and oranges in my keeper. A fresh pineapple is on the counter ~ not quite ripe. I also have some blueberries in the fridge. Stay safe when you are out and about.
SUSAN I used to be 5'6" but after my back operation and having that disk removed I am now 5'5" and holding. Be careful driving on that ice. That is so iffy at most. Folks can do some stupid stuff on it and end up up-side down. I am so thankful that we have all wheel drive. I do hope your condition does stay stable and not worsen. I was a smoker back in the days when it was so popular but since then my tests show my longs are all pink again and like I never smoked. When I quit I quit cold turkey. Quiting smoking was certainly easier than losing weight.
JEAN You certainly got more snow than us. We only got about a foot and getting that much sure makes the piles high when they scrape a parking lot. Since the temp is so low it won't melt soon either. I hope you are staying inside this day and out of the weather. I imagine you are certainlly looking forward to spring. AH nice spring breezes. I can dig it.
Well Magnolia friends have a great afternoon. type at y'all later.
Maggie -- on losing 1.6# last week! You have to scale going in the right direction! It is -20 wind chill right now hovering between 1 above and 0. I'm glad I didn't have to go out tonight! I hope that Will's knee surgery will be minor and he is back to feeling better asap. This is definitely soup kind of weather!
I'm going to read for awhile and then head off to bed. I will be going into the church office in the morning and then have my lunch bunch at noon. See you tomorrow!
JEAN It is zero now with a wind chill of -15 but that isn't the only reason I am not going outside. Fixin' to go to bed I am. That chicken noodle soup was so good tonight ~ guess it tasted so good because of the weather. But I made it just like I always have. Got some in the freezer now and some in the fridge. I do believe we will want a re-run tomorrow. If not I can always freeze it then. Have fun at your lunch bunch tomorrow. Stay safe and watch out for those other drivers.
Good morning to you gals! Well the commissary was pretty bad. There weren't people in the store, but there wasn't food in the store either! I guess they were expecting the truck that night around 8 (I heard a couple employees talking about it) and the shelves were pretty bare. Unlike regular grocery stores, the military has strict rules on their deliveries and such and they usually get a truck on a certain day and what is on it is it, nothing more until the next week so if you get there on the wrong day you are sunk. I have a few things left on my list, but I did get what I needed for the most part.
Maggie: Yeah for you and your loss, that is great! We are cold here, but nothing like you and Jean are experiencing. It was pretty windy here yesterday, which made it really cold feeling and I don't have winter coats because for the most part don't really need them, but yesterday was an exception. I about froze to death walking from the commissary back to the car. I had a dear sweet lady I was friends with at the law firm. She was several years older than I, but was sort of my counterpart in the patents type law part of the firm. She would wear thin knit slacks and have on these brightly patterned undies under them. I would have highly embarrassed her to speak to her about it and I imagined no one paid much attention to her so I kept my mouth shut. You know when you become a senior you become like wallpaper to folks and especially uppity lawyers. Hope Will's knee is feeling a bit better, but I know my knees were killing me last night with the cold so I imagine his are too. Jack is to the point where nothing gives him relief be it cold packs or ibuprophen so he just grits his teeth and bares it poor thing.
Susan: I will have to remember to ask them to measure me when I have my physical. I have always been 5'7" so we shall see if I have shrunk any. We too have the nuts that can't drive on snow or ice, mainly because they won't slow down. We were coming home last night from dinner and this idiot gangbanger in a beat up oldsmobile came up behind Jack, zoomed around him in the left lane and cut back between he and a semi in the left lane. I don't know how he got between both of us. Scared me half to death. That and the "being in the left lane and cutting over three lanes to exit right at the last second" folks and it is no wonder my hair is turning white! I guess there was a 14 hour stand still on I-30 around Arkadelphia on Monday. It was slippery and a semi jack knifed, they started to clean that up then another one did it. Folks were stranded in their cars for 14 hours!!!!! I remember back when Jay was a newborn, we went to New Mexico for Christmas. We were living here at the time and on the way home an ice storm came through the south and we drove on icy roads for hundreds of miles. There is a steep hill on the interstate just after you get to Forest City Ar. The semis couldn't get up the hill because of the ice and it stranded traffic for miles. Back then you didn't have baby carseats and the like and Jay was sleeping in a car bed in our little Vega with the seats folded down. He slept through it all, but we were a mess. When we finally were able to exit, the hotels were all full and we had to sleep in the hotel parking lot in the car leaving it on all night to keep from freezing. It was awful. Thank God we were young!
Jean: So, what are you reading? I am reading a couple books and working on two sets of socks, my sister's pink ones and the ones Kelly ask me to make from the yarn she won at the charity auction. It has some pretty colors to it and very bright. I am reading, Fifth Avenue which is about this greedy rich family being murdered for revenge by another rich guy and Her Last Letter which is about a murdered girl whose secret letter is found by one of her sisters in which she says she is having an affair with a sister's husband, but you don't know which one. It basically makes you believe the husband murdered her, but you don't know which husband she was having an affair with and the sister who finds the letter has to find out if it was hers or her sister's husband. They are both pretty good and they both each cost me only cost 99 cents on my Iphone. Hope you have fun with your group at lunch today. I am going to clean house.
You gals have a nice Wednesday. I am going to take out the trash as it is garbage day and just a little while and sit and knit. Faye
Good Morning, Flowers! The wind is blowing, it's spitting a few snowflakes, cloudy, cold, and gloomy in my corner of the world. I've been to church to post what little was given on Sunday. We have had two Methodist Churches close Dec. 31st, one being in a small neighboring town. Some of their members will come to us while some will stay and attend other churches in their town. It's a beautiful little church but no young people involved. Bob's little hometown church is in financial trouble as is our own right here. I have lunch bunch at noon but dressed for it so guess I will do some more sorting through the receipts, etc., from 2010 and get tax papers ready for the tax lady.
Maggie -- Our wind chill right now is -15. I almost wish they wouldn't tell us for then it seems even colder. I tried a new meatloaf recipe using a package of McCormick meatloaf seasoning. It tasted ok but fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan. Bob asked me what I did to it.
"Gma" -- Our grocery stores only get deliveries on certain days also. However, the independent guys who deliver bread, chips, pop, etc., come more often I think. I just finished a book by Robyn Carr called Angel's Peak, a romance. I have Danielle Steel's new one, Legacy, but I don't know if I can get it read before it is due back at the library. They won't renew new books because there is usually others waiting for them. I would get confused if I was reading two mysteries at the same time. Both of yours sound good.
Susan -- Hope you are keeping warm!
I'm going to get started on the paper pile right now! Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Burrr it is another cold one here with the sun shining and no snow in the near forecast. As I type it is 6 degrees that feels like -5 with the 6 MPH wind coming out of NNW. Burrr. Well the dogs have finally decided who is the boss. It took them 45 minutes this morning before Beanie finally layed on his back and submitted to Ragg Mopps superiority. Things should settle down now. Unusual we didn't get any mail today. Nada. So Will gets to go out and mail what we had out to go. I got all my points changed in my little smoothie booklet. Only the ones with the fruit in them went down in points. Interesting now when we cook a recipe with fruit in it we have to recalibrate it to reflect the total points without the fruit. I'll recalibrate the points in my cook books as I use a recipe that has fruit in it. A recipe builder program is sure nice to have. Mine is called Recipe Calc 4. I am sure there are other good ones "out there." I just have had this one for a long time.
JEAN Yep we are running about the same chill factor. So much of the storm business has missed us this year. But it is so cold nothing here is melting yet. Our animals sure don't stay out long in this cold. I do see bunny tracks across the snow in the back yard. Hope he is finding enough to eat but somehow they do. Survival of the fittest strenghtens the herd. Once you start feeding them you have to keep it up or they perish. It has been given to them to know how to find sustanence. Did you put eggs and cracker crumbs in your meatloaf to act as a binding agent?
DONNA FAYE And the shelves were bare. That is a scarey thing if no one is there refilling them. But like you said they have a schedule. Not like the regular markets. Out here in the heartland we don't get products like they do on the right and left coast. I can't find some of the items I used to use regularly when living on the left coast. Guess that is why catalogue shopping has become so popular. We looked all over for a folding step stool yesterday and there isn't one to be had in this area. AH ~ but I have a catalogue that has them so I will order one. We need a folding one to keep in the Jeep. And other things I can't find locally Bakers catalogue may have them. But to go to a store where the shelves are bare is a scary deal.
SUSAN Howdy, I hope you are doing well this day.
Almost noon and I think I will go and heat some chicken noodle soup. Yep that is a good thing to do. Type at y'all later.
Good afternoon, ladies! It's 36 degrees right now and the sun is shining. The snow missed us but when I got up this morning everything was coated in ice. It looks so beautiful, but can be so destructive. Fortunately it melted by noon.
I don't remember if I told you or not, but I applied for a temporary part-time job with Jackson Hewitt for the tax season. When I was interviewed, she told me they would let the person selected know on Friday so when I didn't hear I thought someone else got it. She called me yesterday and said I needed to come in today at 10 am for 2 hours of training so that's what I did this morning. Just answering the phone, scheduling appointments, and a little data entry. It'll be some welcome extra money.
So, Maggie, you married a cowboy! I hope they can get the bone fixed for Will - or out of there - and get rid of his pain. You know WW says we have to count fruits and vegetables in recipes. It's in the Plan Book. Think about it, if we buy a frozen entree, the points include veggies and fruit and we never subtract them.
Jean, It's sad that churches are closing or merging. Our church was supposed to absorb another small church in our area but we have been blessed with many returning Catholics and people seeking to become Catholic and both churches will be able to remain open. We are going to put an addition on our church in the next year or two because all Masses are getting crowded. Things go in cycles and hopefully people are waking up and returning to God.
Faye, I have warmer coats for winter, but not what I'd actually call a winter coat. Like you, they aren't needed very often. Maybe with the climate changes, that will change. My knees have been a lot better since I started exercising and my hip as well. Right now I have a lot of pain in the front of my thighs from the new exercise class. LOL.
Well, I need to go and start getting my things together for my quilting retreat this week end. I'm looking forward to the fun!
Maggie -- I just got home from bells and the car said -6. It had been just 1 degree this morning and again this afternoon when I drove into town. Practice lasted an hour so that was a fast drop in temperature! Chicken noodle soup does sound good tonight. Bob is at church for a finance meeting; I think they are going to try and put a budget together to see if we can keep both the associate pastor and the education director. I'd hate to lose either one of them, but a lot of the snow birds split their giving between here and their winter church this year. We have deer coming to raid the bird feeders and squirrel food again. Last year they would come while we were still up, but so far they have been coming during the night so we don't get to see them.
Susan -- I'm glad you didn't get the snow and the ice is history. Your part-time job sounds perfect! I thought you were going to say that you would be figuring taxes, and to me that would be as big a headache as working on computer glitches. I know you will enjoy your retreat this weekend -- something to look forward to. Have you given any thought to getting another cat?
Guess I will check out the leftovers and figure out what's for supper. I have no idea when Bob will be home.
Hope all is well with everyone now that is just about bed time for me. I have been busy doing this and that to keep busy and I do see some progress this day.
SUSAN Our WW leader suggested that we subtrct the points of fruits and veggies by running our recipes though a recipe builder and leaving them out (like for my smoothies) to figure the new points+ value. The frozen entrees are already calibtated with using the Points+ system so no need to adjust the points on them. The new WW books are also already calibrated not counting the fruits as any points just the older ones are not right with the new system. They are doing the same out in CA from what I hear. But if I understood you correctly your area is doing it differently. Wonder why that is for it seems like they would all do things the same way. So if I throw a banana and some berries in the blender with some yogurt I only have to count the yogurt now. Makes sense to me so I chaned the amount of points in my booklet making them points+. Congratulations on your new job. Sounds like one you will like and surely find uses for the funds you will be earning working both of them. I imagine it won't be hard to juggle your hours between the two of them.
JEAN So you have squirrel thiefs. They get what they can for sure. It is minus 1 as I type and with the wind the chill makes it -15. I walked to church the long way tonight for Bible Study because the back lawn path and road looked very slick. The front sidewalk is nice and cleaned off. That nice man in the neighborhood keeps the walk nice and clean with his little tractor with a blade on it.
DONNA FAYE Nighters to you.
Type at y'all later. I am headed to brush my teeth and get myself to bed.
Good Morning, Flowers! It's another cloudy gloomy day in my neighborhood, but it's not snowing and it has "warmed" up to 10 degrees as I'm typing. I have WW later, and the dust/fur bunnies have been multiplying when I wasn't looking.
Maggie -- You are a night owl! It's not the squirrels as we put food out for them -- it's the deer who show up during the night to eat the leftovers and knock the bird feeders around to get the seed out. Our leader hasn't said anything about counting fruit points other than not to overeat on bananas and expect to lose. I'm sure the new points is the major part of my frustration in the new program. I still think the slider was much easier.
I need to put a load of laundry in and get a move on. Hope you all have a terrific Thursday today!
Good morning gals. It is a chilly 18 this morning here and only to get up to 30 degrees today, but by the weekend we will be back into the 40's which I look forward to. I think since Jack has a three day weekend (MLK day Monday) we will do some carpet spot cleaning. Fortune has upchucked a couple times and even using spray spot cleaner it leaves a yellow spot so they need to be steamed cleaned.
Susan: That will be a fun extra job. I thought about applying to work the polls on election day. It isn't huge money, $30 for training and $100 for working the polls, but I imagine it would be fun to do. I wasn't certain of the status of the grand marquis so I didn't but I think I definitely will next year. Since I am a people person it would be enjoyable to do I think. Wow, let's see we have a sailor, chef, cowboy/preacher and a farmer. We could have our own song!
Maggie: I just hate driving all the way out there and then not having stuff to purchase so I still have to go elsewhere. I feel for active duty and people living strictly on ss and their military pension who have to pinch pennies to do anything in the first place. I know when Jack was in the military I sure couldn't afford to shop at regular grocery stores and have to pay sales tax and such on top of higher prices. I mean, for example, I had to buy Fortune some dog food as I ran out before we went commissary shopping. I buy those little containers of Cesar and mix with dry. Well, I bought them on sale at Target for 70 cents each so plus sales tax here, it cost me 77 cents per container. The commissary has the same thing for 49 cents and the surcharge is 3% so is comes out to about 50 cents a container. You buy two weeks worth and you are saving, $3.78 so it can add up.
Jean: I am finding out the book Fifth Avenue has a lot of people being beaten up and a lot of them are marked for murder! So, that tells me I should never envy the rich! It is a pretty good read though. I can keep a bunch of books going all at the same time, but once in awhile if I have put one down and not read it for awhile, I will have to back it up a bit and give myself a running start to remember what the thing is about!
Well, I have work to do and it is after nine so I guess I better get to it. I can't believe it is Thursday already. I hope they get the trash picked up today as yesterday was trash day and they didn't get it picked up. Our 4 inches of snow on Monday stalled them I guess. Only someone who grew up in the north sees the humor in 4 inches grinding everything to a halt. They would starve to death and die down here if they got the accumulations that they do up north I think. Have a good one gals! Faye
Here is the answer I got from WW on the fruit question. They do count both fruits and vegetables.
Here's the official word on this:
First, there is an adjustment made in the daily target for eating fruits and
veggies with a PP value of 0. This adjustment was based on eating the foods
in their “natural and singular” state which did not include use in recipes.
Second, the recipe builder can't tell if you've made a baked apple with
cinnamon or banana bread with heavy cream. It only knows you've made
something with fruit. At Weight Watchers, we want all of our recipes to be
consistent with each other. And we want them all to be consistent with any
recipe you might have at home with nutritional information. So we calculate
every recipe the same way—we add up all the nutritional info and calculate
the PointsPlus values from there. This gives you the MOST accurate
PointsPlus values. And for really tasty items like banana bread with heavy
cream, you probably want that information if you want to see weight-loss
results. BTW, this is always how the Recipe Builder worked, it just wasn’t
as obvious when you only saw it with vegetables.
Maggie, those frozen entrees do count points for fruits and vegetables. Any leader who says not to count them in recipes, doesn't know her stuff.
I'll post more when I get home.
Last edited by QuilterInVA; 01-13-2011 at 11:21 AM.
Maybe the doctors start to keep track of height 'later' in life. I don't think I've always been measured but know I have the last few years, ever since I quit HRT for sure, and started bone density testing.
in Iowa!
What is a spirometry test? I've never heard of that one. I started taking Fosomax (?) generic as soon as I quit the HRT. I've only lost about a half inch in the last 13 years. We have had several accidents around the area over the past week or so. People drive too fast and lose control sometimes flipping or rolling their vehicles. The dumb part is that many still don't wear seatbelts. 
Hope your day at work goes without any glitches.
Titilating Tuesday
which I am pleased to say. Got all the necessary ingredients to make chicken noodle soup so that is what I am going to do for dinner and put some serving sizes of it in the freezer for later meals. About Will's knee ~ he has a piece of bone that has been broken off and is now causing some pain. Probably an old rodeo injury come back to haunt him. The doc is going to go in and see if it is still attached at one point and then if he can re-attach the rest of it he will. If it is broken off completely he will remove it. That's the plan. He got pretty broken up doing rodeo and is now paying for it. I ordered some undies and the came today and wow ~ I thought I had ordered pastel colors and these came BRIGHT but I will keep them for I wear pants that don't show through anyway. Just a surprise ~ they are really nice colors. Into the washer they go. 
type at y'all later.
on losing 1.6# last week! 
You have to scale going in the right direction! It is -20 wind chill right now hovering between 1 above and 0. I'm glad I didn't have to go out tonight! I hope that Will's knee surgery will be minor and he is back to feeling better asap. This is definitely soup kind of weather! 
I guess they were expecting the truck that night around 8 (I heard a couple employees talking about it) and the shelves were pretty bare. Unlike regular grocery stores, the military has strict rules on their deliveries and such and they usually get a truck on a certain day and what is on it is it, nothing more until the next week so if you get there on the wrong day you are sunk. 
I would have highly embarrassed her to speak to her about it and I imagined no one paid much attention to her so I kept my mouth shut. You know when you become a senior you become like wallpaper to folks and especially uppity lawyers. Hope Will's knee is feeling a bit better, but I know my knees were killing me last night with the cold so I imagine his are too. Jack is to the point where nothing gives him relief be it cold packs or ibuprophen so he just grits his teeth and bares it poor thing.
I tried a new meatloaf recipe using a package of McCormick meatloaf seasoning. It tasted ok but fell apart when I tried to take it out of the pan. Bob asked me what I did to it. 
Bob is at church for a finance meeting; I think they are going to try and put a budget together to see if we can keep both the associate pastor and the education director. 
I'd hate to lose either one of them, but a lot of the snow birds split their giving between here and their winter church this year. We have deer coming to raid the bird feeders and squirrel food again. Last year they would come while we were still up, but so far they have been coming during the night so we don't get to see them. 
I know you will enjoy your retreat this weekend -- something to look forward to. Have you given any thought to getting another cat? 
It's not the squirrels as we put food out for them -- it's the deer who show up during the night to eat the leftovers and knock the bird feeders around to get the seed out. Our leader hasn't said anything about counting fruit points other than not to overeat on bananas and expect to lose. I'm sure the new points is the major part of my frustration in the new program. I still think the slider was much easier. 
